An in-depth look at the Clinton LumberKings from radio broadcaster Dave Lezotte. The LumberKings are the class A Midwest League Affiliate of the Seattle Mariners.

Tonight’s Interview: Kalian Sams

The LumberKings fell by five runs for the first time since April 29 yesterday afternoon, dropping their fourth-straight game on this road trip by a final score of 8-3 in Peoria. Kalian Sams got the Kings off to a good start with a solo home run on top of the left-field berm in the second inning and finished 2-for-4, adding a double and scoring a second time later in the game. Shaver Hansen went 2-for-4 with two RBI in the leadoff spot to keep Clinton close at 4-3 entering the bottom of the seventh, but the Chiefs scored four unanswered runs over the next two innings to win convincingly.

Focusing on Sams, who in his first 10 games back showed more in the way of patience than the raw power we saw for most of 2010, homered off Chiefs’ left-hander Austin Kirk who had dared to pitch him inside. The blast (listen here: Sams Solo HR (#1) 5.22.11) was a bit of the old from “the Swinging Dutchman”, his 17th career home run as a LumberKing and his 21st in the Midwest League. Still, the slimmed down slugger has showed more speed than pop so far (four steals in four tries and more than a few tough running grabs in right field), and that’s a main topic of tonight’s pregame interview.

Sams talks about his first home run back in the black and green, losing 20 pounds with a new trainer this offseason, utilizing his eye and his speed more this year, coming down from High Desert to join the Kings again and more.

I’m laying off the lineups again in an attempt to see if it’ll help us start a winning streak. Either that or I’m lazy, you decide. I can tell you that left-hander Edlando Seco (0-0, 5.30) makes his second start for Clinton tonight and that the Chiefs counter with right-hander Dallas Beeler (1-1, 0.86). Looks like another challenge for these LumberKings’ bats as Beeler hasn’t allowed a run over his last 15.0 innings.

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